in total darkness (you can be me)
by Arrowsbane
Summary: Sumigakure Halloween Event 2017: Prompt #8. There have been rumors about the Nara for years, about how sometimes their shadows move by themselves. When the sun goes down, all bets are off for the shadows-that-melt-the-flesh. Alternatively: "That one Nara who is BFF's with man-eating shadows, and the reason Konoha has so few enemy-spies is because said Shadows eat them."


**in total darkness (you can be me)**

 **Sumigakure Halloween Event 2017: Prompt 8**

 **Arrowsbane**

 _..._

 _The pale moon rises over the skyline, and the shadows below thrash with excitement. There will be good eating tonight. A sound like rolling thunder echoes quietly through the Nara forests, an almost inaudible thrum of anticipation._

…

The Nara clan, is moderately famous for a clan of Ninja. Known for their medicinal knowledge, their partnership with the Akimichi and Yamanaka clans, and their mastery of the shadows; it would be considered common knowledge that the Nara in general, were, well… lazy genii. The can sleep half the battle away and then take you down in less than thirty seconds flat with a well-placed trap that you didn't even see coming because you were too busy being offended by the sheer boredom that they exude.

And then, of course, there is the proverbial black fawn of the herd.

Nara Ren is… complicated, to say the least.

There have been rumors about the Nara for years, about how sometimes their shadows move by themselves. If you ask any Nara, they'll just smile and tell you not to be superstitious. Any Nara, but Ren. There's just something off about Shikaku's nephew. Something the others can't quite explain. A trick of the light, something in the corner of their eye, tracks that stop with no reason or rhyme.

…

 _The pale moon rises over the skyline, and the shadows below thrash with excitement._

 _There will be good eating tonight. The trespassers-who-spy-on-little-shadow will make for a yummy snack, and there are always more who come running._

 _Oh, what's this? An Intruder?_

 _If shadows could rub their hands and cackle would glee, these would:_

 _Dinner._

 _The shadows converge, and all that is left is a pile of nice white bones._

…

"Ren, kiddo, you can't just feed people you don't like to the shadows." Shikaku sighs, trying to will away the ache that's growing in his temples, and wishes for plausible deniability. Why does his little sister's firstborn have to be so… _troublesome_. There is a collection of bleached white bones sitting in a pile in front of him, a pile of bones that his nephew had been sneakily disposing of before he'd been discovered. Not _again_ dammit.

Ren blinks his big brown eyes, and the most frustratingly innocent expression spreads across his face.

"But they're _hungry_." The eight-year-old shadow-charmer whines.

Goddamn, that's a pout. That's one hell of a pout. Since when was there a Nara who could pout? Isn't that supposed to be a Yamanaka thing? Shikaku swears it's a mirror image of the exact face Inoichi used to pull back when they were genin together.

Two years ago, Shikaku had woken from a nap to a hammering on the front door. His younger sister Rangiku had been in hysterics, because her _six-year-old son_ was _missing_. After a frantic mad-dash search of the village, a cheerful and perfectly fine Ren had been retrieved from the Forest of Death chattering on about his new friends. His new friends _who were not human_.

[Once upon a time, somebody had gotten it into their heads that mixing the Nara genius and the Uzumaki unpredictability would be a good idea. Four generations later, and the clan is still regretting it.]

Nowadays, however, Shikaku just considers himself thankful that nobody has ever been _able_ to find the bodies.

Beside him, the shadows grumble and groan. Shikaku has to work to keep an uneasy expression from his face. Ren frowns.

"Well if it gives you stomach ache, spit it out." He tells the mass of inky darkness in a matter of fact tone. There is a noise that sounds rather like a wet belch, and suddenly a human tongue is lying on the ground at the boys' feet. Ew.

Shikaku picks up a stick and flips the appendage over to reveal a cursed seal. Then he swears, before eyeing his nephew thoughtfully. He knows this mark, and who it belongs to.

"Could you train them to recognize this?" He asks, and Ren nods.

"These people don't come onto clan lands again." Shikaku says sternly, and the shadows rumble once more. Ren grins at him.

"Don't worry Uncle Shi," The boy says with a cheerful smile, "we've got this."

Shikaku isn't sure whether to be proud, or just plain creeped out.

…

 _The pale moon rises over the skyline, and the shadows below thrash with excitement._

 _There will be good eating tonight._

 _The little shadow-who-is-not-shadow is tucked up in his nest asleep, but the shadows-who-are-always-hungry will wait._

* * *

 **Notes:** The Shadows are somewhat a cross between the Vashda Narada [Doctor Who: Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead], Pride from FMA, and the Lethifold from Harry Potter. I'm not 100% sure anymore… All I know is that they're now some form of unholy abomination.


End file.
